Amongst the Stars // Peter Quill

Welcome to the Human Race

Charlie nudged her foot into his side to knock him off balance. He only leaned on her with one hand, using his other to hold his 'cramping stomach' because he was laughing too hard. She rolled her eyes and offered a frown at Drax. Getting Rocket to be polite was a process.

"What about him? What's he doing?!" accused Drax, pointing his finger. It brought light to the boom box they subconsciously gathered around.

Wiping his eyes, Rocket said, "I'm finishing this so we can listen to tunes while we work."

"How is that a priority?" asked Drax.

"Blame Quill; he's the one who loves music so much," said Rocket accusingly. 

"What the Hell, Rocket?" sighed Charlie, confused as to how she didn't see him pack it up or assemble it right in front of her. "We can't have tunes; you know how Peter gets when his songs come on."

"I'm not the one we should be worried about," sang Peter softly.

Charlie challenged him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remind me who's Terran here? Raise your hand?" 

"Both our hands would go up, Shit-Lord."

Peter opened his mouth only to hastily correct her, then, to Rocket, he said, "No, no, I'm with Drax. That's hardly important right now."

"Oh, okay, sure, Quill," said Rocket, winking too obviously and consistently for only Peter to notice. 

"No, seriously, I side with Drax," said Peter slowly, for him to understand.

Still winking and putting forth more effort that he was actually leaning over to wink, Rocket said, "No, I understand that you're being very serious right now."

"I can clearly see you winking!" yelled Drax. 

Rocket stopped. "Damn it. I'm using my left eye."

Conversation ceased when their ears registered a soft screaming being battled with frightened squeaks. Three Orloni were scampering away from Groot. He sprinted at them, which prompted two of them to run. The one Orloni who didn't caused Groot to throw his entire body weight into punching it, then he wobbled to a stand still and watched the thing limp away. 

"I am Groot," he said, annoyed.

"They were not looking at you funny!" insisted Rocket. 

The dial on Peter's tracker skyrocketed. In an instant, the point in the sky at which Peter was staring into got sucked in, transforming into a flashing rainbow of colors. It was a portal. It settled on a sickly green color and a wiggling blob appeared within it, soaring through the length of the portal until it landed in the atmosphere of Sovereign. 

The Abilisk's skin was pink underneath the thick layer of slime covering its skin. Fat oozed from every inch of it-- it's wrinkles had wrinkles forming. Two giant blue eyes were stuck onto the sides of its head. It's mouth was jutted out farther than the rest of its head, mostly to account for the hundreds of rows of teeth the thing had to devour its meal. 

"That's intense," said Rocket with a gulp. 

"You guys ready?" wondered Charlie. 

Peter replaced the tracker for his two guns. "Born ready," he said. 

"To fight an Abilisk? Really? Because I find that incredibly hard to believe," sassed Charlie. 

"Fight me," he prompted. 

"When we're done," said Charlie. 

She quit joking around when the platform shook, thanks to the Abilisk crash-landing on it. It roared at them, mucus and spit flying from its lined rows of interior teeth and it wiggled its dozens of flailing tentacles. It used the front two tentacles to start tugging its body toward them.